Japanese Industry Minister meets Modi

Gandhinagar, Jan 10 (IANS) Japanese Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko on Tuesday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat meet, and discussed bilateral issues, said an official.

“The Japanese Minister recalled Prime Minister’s visit to Japan in November 2016 and the far reaching accords reached in various fields. He briefed on the progress in Japan’s commitment to train 30,000 Indian youths over the next 10 years,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup.

Modi appreciated Japan’s long standing relationship with Gujarat and active participation in every Vibrant Gujarat Summit.

“The Japanese Minister was accompanied by representatives of Suzuki, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Toyo Engineering and Toyota Tsusho who briefed on their future plans in India. Minister Seko said that this demonstrated the continued keenness of Japanese companies to invest in India,” Swarup said.

Seko also expressed the hope of working with India on renewable energy and in speeding up the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations with Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN).

RCEP is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the member states of ASEAN and the six states, namely, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, with which ASEAN has existing free trade agreements.

Modi invited Japanese participation in the Railway University in Varodara. He also welcomed training for Indian entrepreneurs in small scale industries.

He also reiterated the invitation for his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe to visit India in 2017.

The 8th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit is being be held here January 10-13 with the central focus of “Sustainable Economic and Social Development”.